Timely completion of a Junior Writing Portfolio is a requirement for graduation for all undergraduates at Washington State University. There is a completion box for the requirement (originally called the Writing Qualifying Examination) on the graduation Preliminary and Final To-Do Form.
The Writing Portfolio is a requirement for students who entered an institution of higher learning in Fall 1991 or later. Since this is an upper-division graduation requirement, it applies even to transfer students who come with an AA degree. Any student, however, who has earned academic credit before Fall 1991 (from an acredited institution) is not responsible for the requirement. Students with a WSU recognized four-year degree from another institution are also not responsible for the requirement. Hours transferred from non-accredited institutions will not figure in establishing date of matriculation, e.g., "A level" work from international institutions and Advanced Placement earned in high school. In problematical cases, check with the WSU Admissions Office at 509-335-5586.
Students who must complete the Junior Writing Portfolio may submit it any time after they have completed English 101 (or 198) and must submit it by the end of their first semester after attaining 60 credit hours (2002 WSU Catalog, p. 40). Ideally, students should complete this requirement prior to enrolling in their Writing-in-the-Major courses. Transfer students entering with more than 60 credit hours must initiate the Junior Writing Portfolio during their first semester on the WSU campus.
The Junior Writing Portfolio is intended as a diagnostic aid. It is meant to identify students whose writing ability puts them at risk in managing the requirements of upper-division courses that assign writing. However, the Junior Writing Portfolio is a graduation requirement; if students delay this evaluation, it can become a barrier test, a hurdle they must clear before they can graduate.
Students who do not complete the Junior Writing Portfolio examination within the first term of their junior year will have their registrations held during pre-registration until they have completed the Portfolio. Insist that students complete their Junior Writing Portfolios on time.
The Writing Portfolio consists of two parts:
- The Packet (three samples of writing you've already done)
- The Timed Writing (a two-part, impromptu essay)
All students are required to complete at least one of the two parts the semester after reaching 60 credits (60 credits is junior standing). The other half needs to be completed the following semester. Transfer students are held to the same requirement. In other words, all students, upon reaching 60 credits or transferring to WSU with 60 credits, will have a total of two semesters to complete the requirement. At least one half must be completed the first semester.
Return to the Submission Guidelines page for detailed information on what a student must do to complete each part.
A submission of course writing may be any completed assignment deemed suitable for the Junior Writing Portfolio by the instructor. This paper must be signed by the instructor certifying it is written at an acceptable level (emails from instructors are also acceptable if they aren't available to physically sign the cover sheet). Students should start collecting suitable samples early in their college careers in order to have a good selection to choose from when they are ready to submit the Junior Writing Portfolio, and also so they can acquire the signatures of the instructors while the courses are still in progress.
Timed writing sessions are scheduled regularly during the semester through the week before "Dead Week." Students are assigned an exam site, and must register before taking the timed writing portion. The Submission Guidelines page has registration information.
If the faculty members who read the Junior Writing Portfolio judge the entire Portfolio as Pass with Distinction (within approximately the top 10 percent of exam takers), that rating will be entered permanently onto the student's transcript. If readers designate the Junior Writing Portfolio as Pass, that designation is entered in the student's records, and the student has fulfilled the Portfolio requirement. If the Junior Writing Portfolio earns a Needs Work rating, the student will need to perform additional course work to satisfy the requirement. This information, however, is not recorded on the student's transcript. The only information listed is the course required to fulfill the Portfolio. In some cases required work will be a three-hour writing course, usually it will be a one-hour tutorial--General Education 302--taken concurrently with an upper-division writing-intensive course in the student's major (M-course). Work will be designed to facilitate a student's normal progress toward a degree.
Call the WSU Writing Assessment Program with questions at 509-335-7959 or e-mail the office at juniorportfolio@wsu.edu.